Hi all. I need help. My chocolate is now 6 months old. We got him at 8 weeks. The first 2-3 months were as expected. Puppy nipping and chewing on anything and everything. We followed all book training instructions and trained him gradually. He seemed to get simple commands, and he is smart. He has decent bite inhibition. Over the last approximately 4-5 weeks he has developed a tendency to get up on 2 legs and hump and bite. It is spontaneous and seems to happen more and more frequently. It has gotten to a point to where we are becoming afraid of him. He rips clothing and does not respond to any commands to get him to stop. He will bite at hands and arms when he can. Any attempt to get him away makes him come back even harder at us. I have read about asserting ourselves as Pack leader and tried many methods. Nothing has worked. He gets a good amount of affection and we used to take him out a lot, but it is becoming hard because this behavior happens outside now. We took him to the lake 2 weeks ago and after about 5 minutes of swimming he just started to try to hump me and when I tried to stop him he started to bite and become more aggressive. Had to subdue him and take him home which was an hour and a half drive. I am not ready to say that he is an aggressive dog, but at what point does it come to that? I also have a 9 year old daughter that I am becoming worried about getting hurt. We love him and want to put in the work with him, but most times we can’t because he starts biting or humping when we are walking around. What do you guys suggest? We do not have a problem getting professional help if that what it takes. Just hoping maybe someone reading this has gone through the same situation and has found a way to correct it. Thank you in advance.
I had this bad with my dog. His previous owners tried all that 'pack leader' stuff with him which just made the problem worse. Things that worked with my dog were: -using all his food for training and rewarding calm behaviour -carefully balancing exercise - not too much or too little- avoiding over stimulation -leaving the room if the behaviour happened indoors -teaching incompatible behaviour (find a stick worked for us) this took a while and initially it was impossible to get through to him when in a frenzy. - identifiying triggers (car travel, leads, frustration, overexcitement, over tiredness for us) and avoid/be prepared. We got through it in the end without professional help but it took time. If you do get a professional involved make sure it's a good force free positive one or you'll just make things worse.
Thank you for your response. How old was he when he finally stopped the behavior and does it still happen occasionally? It’s so strange. He is the best behaved dog at the dog park and he never growls. I don’t think it’s out of fear or anger. He doesn’t have any food aggression and is great around other dogs. He just can’t control himself around us. It’s like he gets possessed and the only way to stop him is to subdue him and throw him outside or in his crate. And he is pushing 60lbs now so i need to get a handle on this before I am unable to overpower him.
It didn't stop abruptly - just went from daily to weekly to monthly then apart from one isolated outburst in a training class when he was about 18 months old it just stopped. I think if you rely on overpowering your dog you're likely to escalate the problem, try to keep him calm so the behaviour doesn't start.
Hello, it's so difficult to deal with isn't it? Gwenni is now 7 months and it has been a very gradual and slow process, we are still getting the occasional bite in play when overexcited and when she doesn't quite know what to do. We sat down and wrote a list of what makes it worse and what helps and therefore what we need to do or work on. We ignore her (don't say anything or look at her) or we leave the room - this takes time to work and your can't do outdoors. Lots of trying to avoid her triggers or escalation point where possible (which could have been anything from something new in her environment, to being bored, to being frustrated, to playing too long). Also clicker training the right behaviour when it is an isolated event e.g. on greeting her at return to work she used to jump up, bite and rip clothing, clicker training her for 2 weeks to sit on greeting made the difference there. I still reinforce it with clicker a few times a week. I also took the situations she found challenging where she started to bite out of frustration and worked on them, which for example for her meant just going to sit on a local bench and learn how to be calm and settle down through clicker training. I also know not too pull away from her bite as that made it a game of tug and more fun, I tend to follow her direction until she releases, which reduces the fun and intensity of bite. We don't have children and I understand therefore that may not work for your daughter. It is decreasing in both intensity, persistence and frequency happens now at certain times once or twice a week- I know it is still there but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and know she is a lovely dog with some unacceptable behaviours she needs to unlearn. Good luck and I hope you find what works for you.
He is not being aggressive. He is just over-excited/over-stimulated and doesn't know what to do with that. It is your job to teach him to calm down and get back in his thinking brain. The best way to do that, is to start a training session. Ensure you always have kibble or treats in your pocket. If you notice him approaching you in this way, get a treat out preferably before he does anything and just ask for a sit, or work on the down for a bit. Teach him some tricks. Get him thinking and working for the food, until the moment and urge has passed for him...
Hi - just to say my dog did exactly this and would jump up, growl, bite (really hard), grab the lead etc etc.. she’s two now and ta behaviour has stopped. When she was younger and unpredictable she was never left unsupervised with my children and she was crated if other kids came to play. All I wanted to say is that it does stop. Xx
